We believe we are royally screwed.
In a few weeks political yard signs will sprout like dandelions on a No Mow lawn in progressive Madison — alongside the ubiquitous “In This House We Believe …” signs. (Notice? God is never among the listed.)
Candidates who take Blaska’s advice do so at their own peril but we do believe in Keep It Simple, Stupid. (Sometimes simple AND stupid!) Resist the urge to cram your life’s story onto a 18” x 24” sign, is our advice. Drivers are distracted enough negotiating Mayor Satya’s express bus lanes. Yard signs for our first campaign read like Charles Dickens — a little wordy. Displayed name, office sought, date of the election, and the imperative “Vote!” (Always thought the word should be followed with the interjection, “Dammit!”) Some candidates can’t resist a slogan, something inane like “Fighting For You!” Maybe shoehorn in a graphic; conservatives go for an American flag, progressives throw up a raised fist. (INJUSTICE! It’s everywhere!)
After a few elections, this candidate reduced his yard signs to just a name: David Blaska.
Name I.D. at its most basic! Like the Bud song, you’ve said it all. Advantage is we could keep our options open to seek other elective offices if that campaign didn’t work out. Like a proud father, we presented our stripped-down sign to the chairman of the Dane County Board of Supervisors, who happened to be brother Mike. “One too many words,” was his judgment. (My brother lives Michael Deaver’s dictum: “Be a well, not a fountain.”)
State supreme court candidate Maria Lazar has the best looking yard signs we’ve seen.
A little wordy but love the white on black. (Judge Lazar is not a hostage to victim culture.)
Snotty air quotes
Which brings us to Madame Brenda. Her concern for the homeless appears genuine, if obsessive. We reported last August that the City of Madison, which Brenda Konkel once served as alder, considers her Social Justice Center a possible public nuisance. Which, these six months later, apparently remains unabated.
Neighbors lodged 212 police complaints last year — an average of almost two every three days — for things like drug use, human waste, disorderly conduct, and squatter encampments. The Streets of San Francisco here in MadTown. These are neighbors on Williamson Street, where the tie-dyed Peace & Love generation went to collect Social Security.
Progressive Dane is one of the center’s tenants. Brenda Konkel, a founder, remains a major poobah of that political party (along with the Trostskyite, Rebecca Kemble). Madame Brenda pooh poohs the nuisance charges this way: “It’s mostly complaints that were unfounded or dealing with ‘quality of life’ [her quote marks].” Drug use, pooping and a despoiled neighborhood being collateral damage to the cause of social justice, apparently.
Speaking of nuisances, Progressive Dane asks candidates seeking the party endorsement this question:
Dane County has some of the worst disparities in incarceration for Black people in the U.S. (55% of the jail’s residents were Black in a county that is 6% Black.) What strategies would you prioritize to divert more people from jail and reduce racial disparities in the jail population?
Blaska’s Bottom Line: The only correct answer, of course, is “Do the crime, do the time.” Which would make a neat yard sign slogan, come to think. So would “Not a Penny More!” Why is no one asking that question?
What’s on YOUR yard sign?
14 responses to “Signs of the times”
My yard sign: “you got what you voted for”. In fine print, If you vote for it again, you’ll get more of it.
Most people vote out of emotin for false perceptions.
What’s your “perception” of Dementia Don posting videos of the Obama’s as apes? Is he going after the black vote? Or just showing us what a total DBAG he really is? Maybe install “spell check” ?
Speaking of which, whatever happened to Cornelius Gotchberg?
He had trouble with civility.
“He had trouble with civility.”
Not even close. What he DID have trouble with was someone he had supported both financially and philosophically (the latter occasionally inadvisable) rewarding his selfless efforts with a comically feeble attempt at humiliation.
Willingly allowing a pathetic 78 year old Lazy @$$ Blogge Idiot TROLT to regularly pollute this blogge with breathtakingly imbecilic, off-topic gibberish? Res ipsa loquitur.
Despite missing much of the commentariat and its camaraderie, The Gotch will no longer waste his time here, and it has nothing whatsoever with any problem with civility.
Seems he’s not alone…
The Gotch
Agreed. The integrity of The Squire is increasingly questionable: making stuff up, not taking responsibility when shown to be wrong, practicing cancel culture. I believe I’m out as well. Cheers!
Buh bye.
Regrettably, Gotch (a wondrous tomato whisperer) proves my point. Makes no argument, just engages in personal invective.
No rebuttal, no appeal to reason, just this pointless personal vendetta against a guy who, while often wrong, at least uses his real name. Sad.
Do it on someone else’s dime.
No personal invective expressed, implied, or intended; not at Blaska, leastways.
Just balls and strikes, the arguments were made; you may not like the calls, but that doesn’t change ’em.
The Gotch
Badgered wrote, “Speaking of which…”
This statement doesn’t seem to have any correlation whatsoever to the blog post; speaking of what Badgered?
Badgered wrote, “…whatever happened to Cornelius Gotchberg?”
He chose to take a break from getting involved here and I think he’s presented his reasons, like he did today, a couple of times. Personally, I’ve called the comments posted by Gotch as “Shakespearean stylized rhetorical “poetries”; either you get the style of writing or you don’t”. People that don’t get the writing style, usually take offence.
Badgered – In case you didn’t already know…
As for the regular blog troll polluting the Blaska’s commentariat that Gotch mentioned in his 8am comment today; I’ve raised that exact same problem over the years myself multiple times and I’ve proven on more than one occasion that that specific troll is a willful liar making all kinds of false accusations about other commenters, and I have ALL the related comments to prove my claim that go back as far as 2018. The trolling pattern is absolutely clear. On one occasion back in October of 2024 I wrote to this specific troll that, “You will be tarred as a BALD-FACED TROLLING LIAR (again) unless you provide irrefutable evidence that Gotch has done exactly that. Your word won’t cut it, liar, provide links to supporting evidence.” He never could produce any proof because what he wrote was a lie and I had specifically pointed it out before. Also, uncivil comments from that specific troll like this one, “One Nut’s [One Eye] caretaker will wheel him down to the cafeteria, give him a bib, feed him and get him ready for bed. If he takes his meds like a good boy they will let him watch an hour of faux news.”, are allowed to stand. This specific troll has gotten co bad that I once wrote him stating that “your comments rise to the level of intentional trolling more than infants spit up the contents of their bottles and I’ve pointed that out dozens of times.” This troll’s idea of comment civility is making all kinds of verifiably false accusations against other commenters, presenting baldfaced libelous lies as facts, regular personal insults, and constant off-topic deflections.
Yes by golly, I think I’d be completely justified in saying that He (aka this specific troll) has real trouble with civility, but yet he continues to pollute this blog.
Arrrgh! The previous comment didn’t post right away, so I thought it was a word count issue (exceeding 250 words), so I edited out some of the words to cut down the word count, posted the edited version and then they both posted. Arrrgh.
Sorry for the near duplication.
ABOLISH ICE
Mustafa ’26
As Mr. Miyagi would say “No can defeat”